Second Chances
by musicalmidget
Summary: Regina had given up a lot to become the Evil Queen, including the chance to have a child of her own. Something happens that may change the decision she made years ago, to take away her ability to bear a child. Regina may start to believe second chances really do happen, but will her chance be short lived?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time. All characters belong to ABC. The plot however is my own.**

 **A/N: This is something I've been toying around with for some time and had to figure out a good timeline to have it happen. It takes place just after Neal is born and while Emma is in the past.**

Regina slowly opened her eyes, to allow them to adjust to the sunlight that shone through the curtains. Groaning, she stretched her arms above her head. She tucked her feet up under her and rolled to the side. Next to her, still sleeping soundly was her soulmate, Robin. She reached up and traced his jawline. He stirred under her touch and fluttered his eyes open. He looked straight into her dark eyes and smiled. He lifted his hand and took hers in his. He turned it over and kissed her palm.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Good morning," she replied.

"What shall we do today?" he asked, which made Regina chuckle.

"Well I do have to work at some point, but other than that I have a completely free day. Henry is with Emma this weekend," she replied. Robin grinned and pulled her closer to him.

"I vote we don't leave this bed," he told her and she pulled away from him. She rolled him over and leaned over his face, her dark hair floating gracefully to one side.

"As much as I would love to do that, we do have a 4 year old boy down the hall that will be coming in here wanting his breakfast," she reminded him. Robin raised his head and kissed her softly.

"I wish for once that he was a late sleeper. What child is a morning person?" he chuckled.

"Well he obviously doesn't get it from you," she said playfully. She tried to roll off of him and he held her in place.

"We have at least an hour. I can think of plenty of things we can do in an hour," he whispered. Regina moaned as she leaned in and kissed him. Robin held her tightly and rolled them so that he was laying over her. He put his weight on his hands and looked down at her. He smirked at her and leaned in and kissed her collar bone, then left a trail of kisses down her neck and to her navel. Regina squirmed under him, wanting him to hurry and move to where she needed him most. As he reached the apes of her thighs, she spread her legs further apart to give him more access to her. She held her breath as she waited for his mouth to make contact, but it never did. In fact all of his movement had stopped.

"This is not what I had in mind for this hour," she joked at him as she raised up on her arms. His face was not at all what she had been expecting.

"Robin?" she asked. Still he said nothing.

"Robin, what's wrong? You're scaring me." Finally he made eye contact with her.

"You're bleeding." He whispered.

"What?" she said, ripping the sheets away. She looked down at the bed and there it was, Bright red blood.

"I assume it's just your monthly," Robin suggested. Regina shook her head.

"I don't have one. Remember the potion?" she reminded him.

"Oh, I thought it just took away your ability to carry a child."

"It was a potion to bind my body's natural cycle. I don't have a period."

"Oh. Should you see a doctor?"

"I suppose I must. I'll umm…. dressed," she muttered and climbed out of the bed. She didn't speak a word. To be honest she had no idea what was going on and it worried her. She quickly cleaned herself up and got dressed. While she dressed Robin had stripped the sheets and had gotten Roland out of bed. He clung to his father still asleep. He assumed that Regina would prefer to be alone with her doctor. He waited for her downstairs. He heard her footsteps begin to descend the stairs and he went to meet her at the bottom of them. Her face was full of worry. Roland came running into the foyer and wrapped his arms around her legs.

"Mama!" he exclaimed. Regina smiled and lifted the small boy into her arms.

"Good morning my sweet boy. Listen, I have to go out this morning, but you and Papa are going to have a boys day out. Which means you get to do whatever you want." She told him. Roland smiled and looked at Robin.

"Can Henry come?" he asked.

"Henry has school, but I'll have him meet you guys after school at Granny's for ice cream."

"Yeah! Thanks Mama!" he said and hugged her tightly before wiggling free. He scurried off to the kitchen and then stepped into Robin's waiting arms.

"You're okay. Just go see your doctor and I'll see you later today." He whispered and softly kissed her head. She smiled gently and turned to leave. Robin watched her walk out of the door and he silently prayed she was okay. He then put on a smile and went to have breakfast with his son.

Regina sighed and closed her eyes. She wasn't going to her doctor. She was going to see the one person she knew what exactly the potion had done to her. The person who had given it to her, Gold. She waved her hand and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

She reappeared in front of Gold's shop and took a deep breath before walking into the small store. Belle looked up from the counter and smiled.

"Hello, Regina." Belle said sweetly. Regina walked to the counter and sighed.

"I need help," she whispered, her face white. Belle looked at her with concern and touched Regina's hand.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I…I'm bleeding." She whispered. Belle looked her up and down but couldn't find a wound anywhere on her body. The confusion appeared on her face and Regina sighed and leaned in closer to her.

"I'm bleeding." She said once again and then looked down. Belle followed her gaze and muttered "Oh."

"Why do you need my help?"

Regina rubbed her hand over her face.

"I'm not supposed to be. Gold gave me a potion when I was younger to take away my ability to conceive. I took it as a way to keep my mother's grab on me at a distance. The potion also took away my cycle. I started bleeding this morning, to my surprise. Robin suggested I see a doctor, but I couldn't. I'm afraid something is wrong. I wanted to see Gold or you, since you have access to all of his books, before I psych myself out over worry." She explained. Belle nodded and turned to the shelf behind her. She grabbed a book and flipped through until she found a page with Regina's name written on it. She scanned the text and then grinned.

"You are perfectly fine, Regina. The potion Rumple gave you has a limited affect. It is no longer working so you are having a cycle," she explained and turned the book to allow Regina to see it. Regina read through the text herself and it felt as if the air in her lungs had been taken away from her. She covered her mouth with on hand and placed the other over her stomach and let out a small sob. She looked up at Belle, tears filling her eyes.

"So, I can… I can have a baby?" she asked, really hoping this wasn't a dream. Belle grinned and took Regina's hands in her own.

"If you want to have a baby, you can. I assume Rumple chose this specific potion in case you wanted to change your mind later and want to have a child. The potion only has a span of three years, but with the curse, time was frozen. This is probably why you thought the affects were permanent." She explained and was enveloped in a hug. Regina cried as she hugged the smaller woman. Belle chuckled.

"I guess this is a good thing for you." She asked. Regina pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Oh yes. From the moment I took that potion, I regretted it." She said and sat down in a chair. She folded her hands in her lap and looked up at Belle.

"I honestly took the potion to hurt my mother. I didn't think before I acted," she explained and started to cry.

"I was pregnant," she whispered. Belle knelt before her.

"Regina."

"When I realized I was pregnant, I knew that the baby would never truly be mine. She would hold it against me. Not to mention the baby was not conceived in any kind of love. Leopold was not the kind king everyone had thought him to be. Did you know I was barely 17 when he married me? I was still a virgin and he ripped it away from me. None of the chamber maids questioned when they cleaned my sheets the morning after our wedding night. He had bed me every night for two years before I got pregnant. I asked Gold for help. He… he helped me to get rid of the baby. He stayed with me as I miscarried. He then gave me the potion to stop any further pregnancies. That's part of why I adopted Henry. I felt that the only way I could ever be a mother was to adopt. Then I met Robin and he has Roland. That boy melts my heart. Being with Robin it's everything. When I told him that I couldn't have children he said it was nothing, I could see disappointment in his eyes." She told her. She then smiled and looked at Belle.

"Regina, you can give him that." She told her and helped Regina to her feet. "Why don't you go tell him." She suggested and Regina grinned. She hugged the younger woman once more.

"Thank you Belle." She disappeared and then reappeared in front of her house. She took a deep breath and walked into the house. Robin was seated on the couch watching TV. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He tensed for a second then relaxed as he smelled her perfume. He stood up and walked around the couch and pulled her into his arms. She held him tightly and buried her face in his chest and sobbed. Robin pulled her away from him, concern over his face.

"Regina, what's wrong? Did you find out something at the doctor?" he asked. Regina cupped his face in her hands and gently kissed his lips.

"I didn't go to the doctor. I went to see Belle. She has all of Gold's books. She found the potion I used. She told me that the potion has a limited effect on a person, but because of the curse the potions time effect was frozen with everything else." She explained. Robin looked at her confused.

"Regina, I don't understand." Regina smiled and brought his hands to her abdomen.

"Robin, the potion has stopped working. My body is going through its natural cycle." She explained. Robin's expression changed from confused to realization as he looked at their hands laced on her stomach.

"You.. you can conceive?" he asked. Regina smiled and nodded her head. Robin leaned in and kissed her softly. As they parted Regina spoke.

"I'm not sure what affect the potion had on my body, but Belle thinks that I should be able to conceive rather quickly. So I had better take precautions as to not get pregnant right away." She explained. Robin had learned of birth control since arriving in this land and understood what she was saying.

"Regina, why if I may ask?"

"We just found each other again and with Zelena still a threat, I think us having a child right now would not be the best of ideas. As much as I would love to carry our child, any child for that matter, I think the timing is rather difficult." She explained. Robin shook his head and fell to his knees and softly caressed her flat abdomen. He kissed it then looked up at her.

"I can't imagine anything more perfect than your perfect form swollen with our child. Nothing would make me happier than to see our child grow right here." He whispered. Regina's heart melted. She couldn't deny this man anything, but she knew the desire to have a child didn't stop with him. She ran her hands through his thick hair and he stood on his feet.

"Alright. I won't see Whale for birth control. But, can we make a deal that we aren't going to actively try to get pregnant? Although the thought of having you ravish me nightly is a thought, I just don't want us to get our hopes up if I don't conceive right away. Let nature do its thing." Robin nodded and pulled her into his arms and whispered into her ear.

"Love, I would move the world for you if you asked me to. Although I really want to take you upstairs and make love to you now and begin new life within you, I understand what you are asking." He told her. Regina chuckled.

"As much as I would love that, there is no way you are making love to me tonight or for the next few days for that matter. I officially am on my period. Excuse me while I go to the drugstore to pick up something I never thought I buy." She said and pulled away from him.

"What is that love?" he asked.

"Tampons." She said and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.


	2. Chapter 2

Regina tried to convince herself they were not trying to get pregnant, but who was she kidding? They were trying. Robin hadn't kept his hands off of her since her period had ended. So needless to say Regina was very disappointed to find that her period had returned a month later. She had hoped that she was pregnant. She told herself over and over again to stop worrying about it and hat it would happen for them, but she kept thinking that maybe the potions delayed effect on her body would have caused damage. She pushed through the thought of it and tried to focus on the task before her, Zelena. Her envy ridden sister had a plan to open a time portal to the past to kill Snow White's mother, but she needed one more ingredient, Snow and Charming's unborn child.

Regina ran her hands over her face and sighed. Time was definitely not on their side. Snow's due date quickly approached with each passing day and Regina was nowhere close to figuring out how to stop Zelena. Robin and his men took to the forests to set a perimeter around the town and watch for the the witches minion monkeys. She was grateful he returned to her bed each night.

She flipped through the pages of the book on her desk to find a way to trap Zelena, but nothing jumped out at her. She sighed and dropped her head to the book.

"Giving up already, are we?" a voice spoke. Regina rose her head to find Emma standing in the doorway holding two root beers and a paper sack.

"This book is useless, as are the others." She said motioning to the books scattered around the office.

"Regina, how about you take a break. I brought lunch from Granny's" Regina eyed the bag. "It's not lasagna, yours is far better than hers."

"How do you know? You've never had my lasagna, but not that I don't agree with you."

"Henry brought me some for lunch once at the station. It is the best I've tasted." She said and sat the bag in front of Regina. Regina peeked into the bag and was impressed at its contents.

"A salad and turkey club. You pay attention well." She said and pulled out the sandwich.

"You never eat anything remotely good and you eat like a bird." Emma scoffed and sat down in the chair. Regina shoved the book away and placed her lunch in its place.

"We need more time." She said. "None of these books have anything close to something we can use. I doesn't help that the baby will be here anytime. Why does all of this stuff always have to do with a Charming child? No offense."

"None taken, but you don't get why Regina? I find that hard to believe." Emma said, crossing her arms.

"Please, enlighten me. " 

"Me and that baby? We are products of True Love. I've been told since I got here that True love is the most powerful magic. Though I find that hard to believe. Henry had mentioned soulmates, and I would think that soulmates would have the most powerful magic. But alas I'm just a beginner sorceress, what do I know?" she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"What did you say?" Regina asked.

"What? Oh, the soulmates thing? I was just spitting out crap. I mean it's not like it actually exists. Two people specifically made for just each other, please."

"With everything you've seen you are still so blind."

"But it doesn't exist!"

"Emma, you are talking to who you grew up believing was a fairy tale character and you are claiming that soulmates don't exist."

"Touché. Well I mean, that would have to be my parents to, wouldn't it? So we are back at square one."

"Not exactly. Your parents have True Love. They chose one another out of their overwhelming love for each other, even when your father was engaged to someone else. They were always destined to be together. Their meeting changed fate for them. Soulmates have no choice. Once they meet, they are drawn to that person an only that person. Many people go through their lives never finding their soulmate and find love in other places but never get that feeling of being complete." Regina explained. Emma sighed.

"That still doesn't help us."

"Would you let me finish for once in your life?" Regina scolded.

"Sorry."

"As I said, many people never find their soulmate, but a pair of soulmates do exist here in Storybrooke."

Emma jumped from her chair. "We have to find them!"

"Miss Swan, listen to yourself! You're so quick to take another woman's child to take the place of your mothers?" Emma realized what she was doing and slumped back into the chair.

"Oh my god. I can't believe I thought that."

"It's fine. The child doesn't even exist."

"Why not?"

"Because I haven't had it."

"Oh, I see…wait did you just say you haven't had it?" Emma asked.

"I did."

"Wait, so the story you told me in Neverland? Robin is the guy with the Lion tattoo?" Emma asked. Regina nodded.

"He is. I found saw the tattoo just after you came back with Henry. I was so afraid of it. Before you got Henry to break the curse, he had no idea who I was other than the Evil Queen, but he didn't see that. He was willing to help me find Zelena."

"Wow. Did you guys know each other in the forest during the year?" she asked.

"We did, but I found him very annoying but I was beginning to see past his arrogance and disregard for me. After all I apparently did kill his wife. I have no memory of it, but I had so many people killed during those times, I didn't take names. I was so bent on revenge I didn't care who they were If they got in my way they died." Regina shuddered. She hated to admit those things outloud. She had tried so hard to change.

"Hey, you are not that person anymore. You have changed and have found love. I hate that you can't create that child though. With the potion you told me about." Emma said with a look of sympathy. Regina smiled and shook her head.

"The potion no longer works."

"What?"

"The potion, Gold gave it to me. It has a limited effect on it, but with my original curse, time stopped and the potion was in a stalemate. I assumed that the potion just continued working. I got my first period in 30 years two months ago."

"So.. are you guys…" Regina smiled and her cheeks began to turn pink.

"We are telling ourselves that we aren't but we are. I told him we could wait until this whole mess was over but he told me that he couldn't wait to see me pregnant with our child. And honestly, I can't either. But I'm afraid it won't happen. Belle has told me she thinks I'll get pregnant quickly, but I'm afraid that with the potion being in that stalemate that it could have done permanent damage. I really want this. I have regretted the decision I made all those years ago. And the decision I made before I took that potion." Regina told her. Tears began to form in her dark eyes and she choked out a sob.

"Regina are you okay?" Emma asked. Regina nodded.

"I haven't told anyone what I'm about to tell you. I told Belle part of it, but I didn't tell her what really happened. I feel like I can tell you this I don't know why, but I trust you." Regina said and waved her hand over the office.

"What's that?" Emma asked.

"Just a silencing spell."

"Oh."

"When I married Leopold, I was just barely 17 years old. I was aching because of what my mother had done to Daniel. My heart felt as if it were torn in two. I believe that Daniel had been my true love. Leopold, was not the man Snow claimed him to be. But Snow, didn't see the man I did. He took a child as his bride, a girl barely 4 years older than his own daughter. One our wedding night I was terrified. I had never been with a man before and he was not gentle. He ripped away my innocence that night and before he left me to be cleaned he whispered in my ear that he would plant his son in me if it were the last thing he ever did. For two years, night after night he would come to my bed and each night I would bleed from the force he used on me. It was never easy. Each time my period would come the angrier he got at me and began calling me to his chambers during the day to take me in his bed. His healers told him to give it time and that I was still young. He left me alone. Then my period stopped but I refused to believe it. I had morning sickness but still I refused to believe that I had become pregnant. I could imagine the child of that filthy man growing within me. I hoped that I would miscarry the child, or that I would die with the child never leaving my womb. It wasn't until I felt the child move within me that I fully accepted that I was pregnant. I hid it. I hid the pregnancy for months. I was just starting to learn concealment charms so I hid the belly that had formed. I still didn't want the child. I contemplated throwing myself down the stairs. It wasn't until Snow had called me Mother, that I had the courage to asked Gold for his help. I left the palace on a relaxing trip, as per the Kings healers suggested, and went to Gold's castle. There he gave me a potion that would induce early labor. He told me my child would not survive long after the birth. I labored for 2 days. Gold helped me as I writhed in pain to give birth. Then he came. I had expected the child to not be breathing or make a sound, but he cried. Gold went to take him from me but I asked to see him. He said it wouldn't be wise but I didn't care. The moment that little boy was placed on my chest I regretted what I had done. He was a beautiful little boy, so tiny. As he began to struggle to breathe, I begged him to stay with me and had begged Gold to save him, but he couldn't. He died in my arms. My little prince, my Adam. Gold took him from my arms and I cried for 2 days grieving the boy I had willing put to death. I am an evil person. Gold gave me the potion to stop further pregnancies when I left his castle."

"Regina…." Emma spoke softly. She had no idea what to say. Regina's body shook with sobs, to the point that she began to cough. Emma stood and went to her, hugging the woman to her.

"What if all the progress I've made, doesn't make up for the fact that I killed my baby?"

"Regina, you live in a world where women do what you did on a daily basis. You are a changing and becoming a better person. You deserve your happy ending." Emma told her.

"He never knew."

"What?"

"Leopold, he never knew I bore his son until I was standing over him about to take his life."

"From what you've told me, he didn't deserve to know him."

"He was so beautiful, Emma. I would do everything in my power to take it all back."

"I know, but you cant. So let's focus on what we can do. Save my brother." Emma said.

"How do you know it's a boy?"

"I just do, I knew Henry was a boy. So lets work together to make sure that my brother doesn't end up in the hands of that bitch." Emma said and picked up a book and began looking through it.

Regina chucked and wiped the tears from her face She had hated that insufferable woman but as the years past the girl grew on her and reminded Regina of herself in her younger years. Regina picked up the book once more and set to work.


End file.
